Thursday, February 5, 2015

Nothing Means Nothing (Book Review: How To Succeed In Business Without Really Crying)

A memoir about a comedienne who wrote for "Seinfeld" and is said to be the inspiration for Julia Louis Dreyfus' character Elaine on that show? Check. Snazzy pop-art-ish cover and a title inspired by a Broadway musical? Okay, sign me up. But Carol Leifer's "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Crying" is a dud. I thought I would get insights on how she wrote for the shows (including "Modern Family" ) but we only get glimpses of those. We get a glance of how Lorne Michaels works in SNL, but that's about it. Except for a fawning description of Jerry Seinfeld, we get nothing. What we do get is sort of an advise book on how to make it in show business. Um, nto what they promised in this book. Maybe it's just appropriate - a book about the "show about nothing" also ends up empty.